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Interrogating Canadian White Identity in Daphne Marlatt's Ana Historic A

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Interrogating Canadian White Identity in Daphne Marlatt's Ana Historic A “The Trouble with History—It Never Is”: Interrogating Canadian White Identity in Daphne Marlatt’s Ana Historic A Thesis Submitted to the College of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts In the Department of English University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon By Tereigh Ewert-Bauer © Copyright Tereigh Ewert-Bauer, January 2005. All rights reserved. PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my thesis work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department or the Dean of the College in which my thesis work was done. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this thesis or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis. Requests for permission to copy or to make other use of material in this thesis in whole or part should be addressed to: Head of the Department of English University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5A5 i Abstract In writing this thesis, I plotted where the streams of whiteness theory, life- writing theory and practice, and Daphne Marlatt’s novel Ana Historic converge. In the introduction, I outline the development of my own subjectivity, focusing on my identification with multiple ethnic communities, and on my “racial” and working class identity. My second chapter surveys current whiteness theories, accepting some and rejecting others, and drawing significantly upon theory that is accessible and personal, a decision that undoubtedly resulted because of my working class practicality. In this chapter, I conclude that whiteness and white solipsism (theoretically comparable to Simone de Beauvoir’s challenge that masculinity as the neutral and positive gender renders femininity and other gendered constructions negative), actually envelope multiple identities, but argue that the way in which whiteness is experienced by those on its margins is often monolithic. In the third chapter, I investigate Marlatt’s biography and her life writing theory, arguing that her experience as a “once immigrant” foregrounds many issues relevant to the Canadian white identity, and that because her theory is so conscious of how identity is constructed, relying on fact and fiction, Ana Historic provides a portrait of white Canadian identity and the context in which that identity has been constructed. In Chapters 4 and 5, I apply the theories of life writing and whiteness to the characters of Ana, Ina, and Annie, challenging that their identities as “colonizer,” “emigrant,” and “immigrant,” respectively, illustrate the evolution resulting in the current white Canadian identity. Further, because Marlatt chooses these characters who occupy different positions in history, she shows her reader that contemporary Canadian white identity has grown out of colonial times, creating a continuum. The history out of which each of these women emerges is never contained because aspects of their identity carry forward into subsequent generations. ii Acknowledgements My most heartfelt thanks and appreciation go to my supervisors, Professor Hilary Clark and Professor Susan Gingell for their endless patience and support, and for the many times they challenged me to think about things in new ways. I extend warm thanks to Daphne Marlatt and Professors Maria Campbell and Pamela Downe, for their thoughtful and generous conversations with me which provided invaluable insight and guidance early in the project. My gratitude also extends to the members of my examining committee (Dr. Yin Liu, Dr. Kristina Fagan, and Dr. Diana Relke), whose comments and questions were tremendously helpful and invigorating. Thanks to both the Department of English and the College of Graduate Studies and Research for giving me the opportunity to teach during my time as a graduate student, which not only funded my studies, but also awakened in me a passion for the vocation of teaching. iii Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my spouse and best friend, Egan, whose tremendous self- sacrifice for my education, and whose timely wit and constant wisdom are immeasurable gifts for which I am thankful daily, and to my two brilliant daughters, Themis and Jurnee. I hope that they will become women who appreciate the privileges they have earned, and that they will question and challenge their unfair advantages. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PERMISSION TO USE..........................................................................................i ABSTRACT............................................................................................................ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS....................................................................................iii DEDICATION……………………………………………………………………iv TABLE CONTENTS.............................................................................................................v 1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………..1 2. Developing a Nose for Whiteness……………………………………………..11 2.1 Trying to Define Whiteness…………………………………………13 2.2 White by Comparison……………………………………………….17 2.3 Power and Privilege…………………………………………………20 2.4 One or Many Identities?……………………………………………..22 2.5 Whiteness from the “Outside”………………………………………33 2.6 Discovering Whiteness and Responsibility…………………………35 3. Daphne Marlatt: Her Life and Life-Writing…………………………………..47 4. The Colonial Canadian………………………………………………………..67 5. Ina and Annie: The White Canadian as Emigrant and Immigrant…………….93 6. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………...113 7. Works Cited…………………………………………………………………131 v 1. Introduction I can think of no better way to begin the introduction to my project on life writing and white, Canadian identity(ies) than to introduce myself. I was born in 1972 in Saskatchewan, and am a third-generation Canadian on both sides of my family. These are the facts, as bare as I can possibly present them. With only this knowledge, you, my reader, have begun to create a mental image of what I look like and who I am. While my year and place of birth, and my nationality contribute to who I am as a person, I am comprised of much more. What are the contributors to and markers of one’s identity? My great grandparents all immigrated to North America in the early 1900’s. They were Mennonites who had been forced to leave one European/Soviet country after another because as pacifists they refused to serve in the local military units. With them, they brought their language (Low German, an oral language), their religious beliefs, their customs, and their traditional recipes. Because Mennonite emigrants settled in colonies, just as they had in “the old country,” they were fairly isolated from external cultural influences. Consequently, many of the old ways have been preserved. I represent the first generation in my family that no longer speaks Low German. As a child, however, my grandparents taught me about the Mennonite beliefs, and my paternal grandmother passed along to me the many recipes that were prepared by my ancestors. These recipes were accompanied by stories of previous generations and their lives, first in the Netherlands and Germany, and then in Ukraine, Poland, and Russia. Great Granny’s “Peppernuts” 4 c corn syrup 3 tsp. cloves 2 c sugar 3 tsp. ginger 3 eggs 3 tsp. allspice 1 tsp. baking soda 3 tsp. nutmeg 2 Tbs. cinnamon ½ Tbs. baking powder Combine above ingredients and mix in as much flour as possible. Roll into ropes, cut into segments approximately ½ inch square, and roll in palm of hand. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake at 400 F for 10 minutes. In the old country, these hard little cookies were eaten instead of candy. They have no butter or lard and so they could be carried in the pockets with no risk of staining one’s clothing. Because they have no oil or fat, they also do not go rancid. You can eat a peppernut made a year ago, and it will taste as good as the day it was baked. My biological father (with whom I have no contact) and mother were and are not practicing Mennonites. Rather, they were part of the Canadian version of the hippie movement. Within months of my birth, we moved from Regina to live in an abandoned church in a Saskatchewan hamlet. My mother hauled water from a well, while trying to avoid the snakes that curled up on the front steps (and which frequently chased mice across our floors, driving my mother atop counters and furniture until they had passed). From my mother in particular, I learned an odd combination of values. The first set of values reflects her own strict upbringing: I was expected to be well-mannered, well-spoken, and respectful of my elders; to possess a sound work ethic; and to demonstrate integrity in everything that I do. The second set of values reflects the unstable Canadian political environment of the 1960’s and 1970’s. My mother encouraged me to question authority, to think critically about ideas that are presumed to be unquestionable, to treat all people equitably (in a 1970’s, multicultural way, a distinction that I will address later on), and to challenge prevailing gender stereotypes. It was not long before I realized that these two sets of values often conflict with one another. I have lived most of my life in Saskatchewan and Alberta, although I lived, with my mother and her second partner (my dad, but not biologically), out of a hippie-van in Mexico and Guatemala in 1975-76. There, we survived an earthquake (and its aftershocks) that eventually killed over 23,000 people. As our Guatemalan friends grieved their losses, our own families in Canada frantically tried to contact us through the Red Cross. We were believed to be dead. My dad emigrated from the Netherlands when he was nine.
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